# Drafting Rules

Apply these rules when converting section briefs into chapter drafts.

## Grounding

- Treat the source corpus as the factual boundary.
- Keep numbers, scope, interfaces, standards, and named systems grounded in source files.
- Use generic industry practices only where they fill process or management structure and do not conflict with the sources.

## Writing stance

- Write toward the target template, not toward a generic summary.
- Prefer concrete implementation language over slogans.
- Explain how the work will be designed, built, integrated, tested, accepted, or operated.
- Keep the prose reviewable. If the user would need to verify a claim, make the claim specific enough to check.

## Structure

- Follow the target outline even when the source corpus uses a different structure.
- Use headings for content layers, not as placeholders for standalone figures or tables.
- Integrate diagrams and tables into nearby explanation.
- Keep section openings aligned with the section purpose, not with generic background filler.

## Working notes versus final copy

- Keep evidence notes, source reminders, and TODO markers in working drafts only.
- Remove file names, extraction artifacts, and planning annotations from final deliverables unless the user explicitly wants them.
- If a section contains assumptions, keep them in a review note or working memo unless the deliverable requires explicit assumptions.

## Style guardrails

- Avoid repetitive AI-style padding.
- Avoid abstract claims that cannot be checked.
- Avoid overusing parentheses and symbol-driven sentence structure when normal prose is clearer.
- Avoid copying source phrasing mechanically when a cleaner project-facing sentence is needed.

## Escalation points

Stop and clarify if:

- Two authoritative sources conflict on a critical fact.
- The target template requires details that the corpus does not support.
- A requested conclusion would require invented facts.